Shellshock: Nam '67 Progress Report

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War is hell and this game aims to prove it.

By Ed Lewis

The development team Guerilla Games is in an enviable position with their upcoming Killzone gathering more hype as time goes on. On the side, thee's also Shellshock: Nam '67 which is delivering a more realistic version of warfare and death and destruction. Set in America's attempt to fight the Domino Theory of global politics, Shellshock is set on providing a visceral wartime experience. Just last month, we had our own Hands-On report about the full game so this time we'll dig a little deeper into the missions themselves.

The game follows the missions of a fresh recruit in the war as he earns his own reputation. Much of the game runs through the jungle along a path that is linear and is strongly reminiscent of the Medal of Honor series. Events get triggered along the way such as Vietcong streaming out of the jungle or from hidden tunnels in the hills. A quiet stroll can quickly turn into a vicious firefight. Even worse are the traps along the way.

Early on, there's a cute moment where a soldier eagerly rushes forward along the path, only to be greeted with a spiked trap smacking him in the face and gut. It's a grim warning to stay on one's toes during this game. So far, we encountered trip wire explosives and more spike traps. Each one has its own method of defusing so that everyone can get by safely.

The spike traps are the easiest to get past once you see them. By dropping down to the ground, these can be crawled past and triggered safely. It's the trip wires that are the real problems. Crawling up to a tripwire and pulling out a pair of wirecutters initiates a mini-game where players need to undo the wires by tapping out a series of directions on the d-pad. Screw up and players will have to start over. Let the time run out and it's game over as the explosives go off at point blank.

The rest of the missions that we played had other elements that mixed up the process of "walk, get ambushed, walk some more" routine that could have easily overtaken the gameplay. Tunnels need to be entered and destroyed, anti-aircraft guns need to be taken out, and secret weapon caches need to be found. There are plenty of different elements that are ripped straight from war movies that get included, but the creepiest aspect is that grittiness of the interactions with the Vietcong.

Upon cornering a Vietcong in a bunker, three soldiers to convince him to put down his gun. He's pushing it up against his chin and screaming about how he'll never let the Americans take him. The screaming goes back and forth and gets more intense as both parties get more agitated. Finally, the gun goes off, the blood spatters the ceiling, and all is quiet. With that, the game definitely puts itself in a position of making this game as gritty as it can.

Another disturbing scene takes place in a small village. The troop goes in and rounds up all of the villagers. The goal here is to inspect the village and find any hidden weapons caches to see if they're supporting the Vietcong. After checking out the nearby haystacks and finding enough gear for a small army, the main character walks back to the huddled group of peasants just as one of them makes a break for it. Shooting down this villager causes chaos as all the other villagers make a run for it and the troop takes them all down. Sure, the mission gets a little closer to being over, but it manages to leave more of an impression than the usual videogame action.

So with all of this drama bringing the level of the game to being more intense than the monotonous firefights that took over the Medal of Honror series, it's still a little odd to see that the rest of the game is graphically still looking rough around the edges so close to the games release just a month away. There is an odd video filter added onto the graphics that make the game look as if it's being shot on some grainy film. While this kind of effect was used incredibly well on other titles like Viewtiful Joe, here it doesn't really help in any way.

It's a little troubling that a game that is looking to provide a visceral Vietnam experience could be dragged down by graphics that still need a little work. While time is short until the expected release date, we're hoping that these issues will be dealt with and optimized before the final product is shipped. It would be a shame for it to be put out in an incomplete format.

To see some new movies of the action that we were talking about, head on over to the Media Page. Also, be sure to check back later as we'll have more details about this title as it gets closer to release.